Vaux, Calvert

1824 - Calvert Vaux, born on the 20th of December in London, England.He was an architect and landscape designer.

1850 - Exhibited in London a collection of landscape watercolors made on a tour to the Continent, and it was this gallery that captured the attention of the American landscape designer and writer Andrew Jackson Downing.

1852 - His work on the Smithsonian inspired an article he wrote for The Horticulturalist, of which Downing was the editor, in which he stated his view that it was time the government should recognize and support the arts.

1854 - Married Mary McEntee, of Kingston, New York, the sister of Jervis McEntee, a Hudson River School painter; they had two sons and two daughters.

1856 - Gained US citizenship and became identified with the city’s artistic community, “the guild,” joining the National Academy of Design, as well as the Century Club.

1857 - He became one of the founding members of the American Institute of Architects.

- Published Villas and Cottages, which was an influential pattern book that determined the standards for “Victorian Gothic” architecture.

1858 - Made a smart political move and collaborated with Olmsted designing Central Park.

1865 - He called upon Olmsted and they decided to create a partnership. As Olmsted, Vaux and Company, they designed Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and Morningside Park and Fort Greene.

1868 - In Chicago, they planned one of the first suburbs, called the Riverside Improvement Society.

1872 - He dissolved the partnership and went on toform an architectural partnership with George Kent Radford and Samuel Parsons, Jr.

1895 - On a foggy 19th of November, he drowned in an accident while he was visiting his son, Downing Vaux, in Brooklyn.